Windows 7: My Future Windows 7 Rig (Questions)

Hello, this is my first post, and I plan on staying with this forum for a very long time. Lets say I want to game on Windows 7. As of right now, I am running a Rig with 1.5GB RAM, an Intel Celeron 1.6GHz, and an Integrated Intel card. I plan on getting a new ATi 4670 or a Nvidia 9800GT in the Mail sometime in the next month, and as of right now, I am shopping for a new CPU. The CPU I want to get is an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor. Would this be good enough to run the games I like to play?


Battlefield 2, Combat Arms, IL2 Sturmovik, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, Halo 2, Half Life 2, Garrys Mod, Left 4 Dead, CSS, DoD:S, TF2, etc?


Right now Im running an Compaq SR5210NX, and I really want to transform this into a Gaming rig instead of an Entertainment system.

Welcome to the forums mate

For those games you listed, that chip will handle them quite nicely.

However, double check that your current motherboard can support it: (is this your machine?)

Product information*Compaq Presario SR5210NX Desktop PC


Motherboard Specifications, 945GCT-HM (Livermore8)*

Unless a Bios update allows more compatibility, you may have some trouble

The Intel Q9550 is a great CPU....I've got one and I just built my rig up last month and I wouldn't change my mind on the CPU. It's got 12MB of Cache...and it overclocks really nicely. I'm running at 3.2Ghz instead of 2.8 with stock cooling and it's 100% stable.

There is no good point in trying to use your existing system for this upgrade. You really are going to need to get a new motherboard to really take advantage of the capabilities of all of your other parts. And this means replacing the case and the powersupply too since the new CPU and video card will draw far more power.

I'd be more than happy to assist you with picking out parts and ensuring that they will work. As a reference, you can look at my system specs at the bottom of each of my posts to see which hardware I used. Mind you, I built this machine to be a hackintosh build and that dictated some of my hardware. Had I been going for pure gaming, I would have gone with a more powerful videocard than a 9800GTX+. But it does still game nice. And I'm running games like Call of Duty, World at War, Crysis, Crysis Warhead and Wolfenstein. If you want more specific info, please feel free to PM me.

Alright, Thanks! My motherboard is also acting a little strange and its never done what it just did my last restart. Every time I restart, it goes into the setup for the BIOS, so I find that someone switched my boot priority to Floppy. I fixed that, saved the changes and it kept going into the setup. So then I figured, oh I guess its either the CMOS or the Battery. I reset the CMOS and it worked just fine. I think this mobo is past its prime.

Yes, it is a little bit past it's prime. The front side bus is slower than the new CPU will run. It has a max memory of 2GB and lots of other slow computer issues. I see that you have already PM'd me and I have responded. I'm sure we will be able to hammer something out with your budget. No problem.